1

Contents

03

A Little About us

05 Chief Librarian’s Message

6 Mrs Yap’s Message

07 HML Executive Committee 08/09

08 HML Executive Committee 09/10

09 Annual General Meeting 2008

12 Discover: HML Camp 2008

25 Raffles Trail 2009

28 Training of New Librarians

30 LCM Day Report

34 Open House Report

37 New Sections in the Library

41 Acknowledgements

42 Final Words

A Little about us

The Hullett Memorial Library has made a conscious effort to constantly upgrade its facilities and services in order to remain relevant in this information age. Our foremost concern is to create a warm and information rich environment where students and staff of Raffles Institution can partake a variety of activities both pleasant and conducive to life-long learning with the aid of up-to-date resources and advanced information technology.

The Hullett Memorial Library sees itself as the hub of academic life and the nexus of information gathering and dissemination at Raffles Institution. It exists to:

Provide absolute support for the curriculum in terms of both the resources and services.

Provide a positive learning environment, enabling pupils to become effective learners with access to the latest technology.

Foster a love for reading.

Promote Raffles Institution, by its role as a leader, in school library services in Singapore.

HML Facilities A collection of about 51,000 books,

including Fiction, non-Fiction and Reference Copies of past year examination papers More than 50 magazine titles including

PC Magazine, Economist, Newsweek, Time, Reader’s Digest and National Geographic.

Daily newspapers in 4 languages - English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

Info-educational DVDs, VCDs, audio CDs, and CD-ROMs.

Project Corner with 14 PCs for group project work. SurfPOOL with 10 PCs for information searches A Photocopying room with 3 photocopying machines. A Creative Studio for teaching, lectures or meetings. A Reference Room for storage of reference books

as well as quiet self-study and reading Teachers Reference Library for teacher’s use HML Al Fresco Discussion and Study Corridor

Hullett Memorial Library

Raffles Institution

The TecHIVE is a place where pupils can explore multimedia and the latest in IT firsthand. It provides endless possibilities for individual creativity, interactive learning and academic pursuits.

Facilities in the TecHIVE

20 Televisions, including 3 LCD TVs DVD & VCD players Music-CD Computers 5000 multimedia items for the abovementioned platforms

Vision

The Hullett Memorial Library aims to develop an information and technology rich teaching and learning environment that encourages active real world research.

Mission

The Library exists to link staff and students with recorded knowledge in an appropriate

time, place and way, enabling them to achieve excellence in teaching, learning and research.

Objectives

Teaching o Work in partnership with teaching

staff to promote innovative use of information resources in school enhance teaching and learning.

Learning o Teach students and staff to basis

for life long learning and real world problem solving.

Research o Increase knowledge

base available to researchers for the development of new knowledge, by using IT to improve access to information worldwide.

Librarians Welcome you to HML!

4

Chief Librarian’s Messages

Ang Hui Hao’s Outgoing Message

It has indeed been an extremely fufilling, and at the same time, challenging year for me and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Yap, Mdm Ho, Ms Many, the exco 08’09 and all the librarians for being part of this enriching experience of being the Chief Librarian. I am sure that the next batch of leaders headed by Hui Chiang will continue to improve the library club and bring it to greater heights.

Tay Hui Chiang’s Incoming Message I am greatly honoured to be chosen as the new Chief Librarian of ‘09/10, and I wish to express my utmost gratitude and thanks to Mrs. Yap, the HML EXCO of ‘08/09 and the rest of the library committee for their limitless guidance and support through the previous years.

My goals for the upcoming year are simple yet lofty. Firstly, I hope to instill a heart of service in all librarians and ensure the passion they hold for the library continues to burn as strongly as it ever had, and never die out even while facing many challenges along the way. Next, I wish to promote a sense of camaraderie among the members of the club, so that no one ever feels left out in our small, family community, and that we will serve the school as a united body. Lastly, I will, with the best of my efforts and abilities see that the club strives to ever greater heights and push the limits and boundaries of what we can achieve.

With this, I will be able to serve the school community better than ever before, and that librarians will never forget that each and every one of them are essential to the operation of the library, for the library cannot function if even one of them are not performing to their full potential.

Thank you.

5

A Message from Mrs. Yap

2008/2009 has been another eventful year for the HML Club. This AGM report features many fond memories of the various club events organized by the 2008/2009 HML EXCO headed by our Chief-Librarian, Ang Hui Hao.

The 08/09 executive committee is a unique one as it comprises only 1 sec 4 librarian which is not the norm. Hui Hao, supported by his team of 3 sec 3 and 2 sec 2 librarians, has successfully organized various key events such as the 2008 AGM, Year End HML Camp 2008, Sec 1 Raffles Trail 2009, and Library Club Members Day (1) in March 09. The Club assisted in the set up of the new HML Students’ Reference Room in March and the Teachers’ Reference Room in June. This batch of librarians will remember fondly the packing and movement of the many cartons of Teachers’ Reference books and their subsequent move to the former LAR during the June holidays. Though a tedious

process, the librarians involved bonded closer through the project.

The boys will be fondly remembered as the batch which was involved in this HML upgrading exercise… ... Perhaps even the year-end major stock-take exercise in Oct/Nov 2009.

My sincere thanks to the HML EXCO 2008/2009 and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

6

HML Executive Committee 2008/2009

HML Executive Committee 2009/2010

Chief Librarian : Tay Hui Chiang

Library Circulation Jonathan Ang Sixian

Issac Chong

Library Management Joshua Phang Shi Ern

Club Programmes

Ong Chuan Kai Wong Zhe Herng

Melvin Lim Jun Cheng

8

2008

Written by: Ang Zhi Jie Dyon

Annual General Meeting

The time of the year has arrived again. A

supposed coming-of-age, a ritual, a long

tradition. The Hullett Memorial Library (HML)

Club’s 2008 Annual General Meeting (AGM)

has arrived with much importance, tradition

and a whole wave of fresh new faces.

As with every important event of the year,

numerous days were put into the planning of

AGM 2008, and a flurry of final preparations

were held the day before the meeting itself.

Days of meticulous planning all culminated as

the EXCO of 2007/2008 and the newly elected

one of 2008/2009 were seen bringing the

important materials up to the Audio Visual

Theatrette (AVT). Prizes to be given out,

important documents to be received, and

certificates of appreciation to be presented

were all promptly set up for the most

important event of 2008 for the HML Club.

HM

L Clu

b A

GM

Special Thanks to the Sec 4 EXCO

members of 2007/2008

Chang Shu Jian --Chief Librarian

Law Kang Jie --Deputy Chief Librarian

Rohan Puthran --Manager (Programmes)

Yan Xiao Dong --Deputy Manager

(Programmes Dept)

Ravi Sethuraman --Manager (Circulation

Dept)

Sean Yap - Manager (Circulation Dept)

Pupil librarians came swarming into the AVT as

soon as they were given the green light to

leave their classes by their respective teachers.

They came in with an air of excitement and

anticipation, which was rather expected. After

the pupil librarians settle down in their

assigned seats, the staff of the library arrived.

Our Deputy Headmistress, Mrs Tan Siok Mui,

had kindly decided to grace this event to

witness the ‘crowning’ of new librarians and

celebration of the graduating ones. Mrs. Yap

also invited one of our old boys, a previous

chief librarian, Major Adrian Choong having

succeeded in his chosen field of work in the

navy, to return in a blaze of glory, and to relate

his own experiences to the librarians present.

As soon as everyone was present, we kick

started the event with much exultation.

First up was a talk by

the Special Guest.

Despite the fact that he

holds a high position in

his field of work, he

was incredibly humble

and had a charisma

that engaged the

audience. He

introduced himself and

with a flow of slides

behind him, he wove

an engaging speech

that was sincere and spoke his mind. He taught

us skills, life choices and the taking over of the

internet world.

One point I made note of was his acceptance

of the internet taking over everyone’s lives.

Indeed, we cannot live without the internet in

this age and we have to be tech-savvy to keep

up with it. What he said was true - despite the

massive internet revolution, the library will

always be a place for learning and a place of

rich culture and vibrancy. Reading material off

the internet cannot compare to actually

delving into a storybook world, immersing into

the content and appreciating the effort taken

to write the book. {Insert Name} has proven to

all librarians present, that the HML Club

cultivates a strong mind and will help build the

foundation for our future endeavors. We will

all certainly benefit from it!

One of the most important segments of the

AGM is of course, the passing of the baton,,

the passing of leadership to the next batch of

leaders to bring the HML Club to greater

heights. It was sad to see the EXCO of

2007/2008’s parting handshakes, and to listen

to the parting message given by the outgoing

Chief Librarian, Chang Shu Jian. Each batch of

librarians leaves behind a legacy, one that will

not be erased and will be emulated, or even

exceeded, by future batches of librarians. The

HML Club’s legacy

will be a long-lived

one, and I am quite

sure we will all

remember our

seniors’

contributions to the

HML Club. Many of

the Secondary 2s

will also remember

the graduating

batch of seniors

with fondest

memories as they spent the most time with

them. The passing of the EXCO of 2007/2008 is

indeed a sad sight to behold but as we look

upon the upcoming year, we know for sure

that the HML Club will be in safe hands again.

Ang Hui Hao, a dedicated Secondary 3, was

chosen to be the Chief Librarian for 2008/2009.

While giving his speech, his posture and

stature was immaculate and it could be seen

from his expression that he was perfectly

determined to take up this position and the

associated responsibility that comes with it,

and to maintain or even improve the state of

the HML.

Hui Hao will carry this responsibility, willingly,

and he will strive to make the HML a vibrant

place for every Rafflesian to study in. The HML

will be a conducive and tranquil study

environment in the hands of our new Chief

Librarian. As he accepts his post with a smile

on his face, wary of the eyes upon him, Hui

Hao promises in front of the library staff and

his library club members that he will do his

best and possibly even more.

The time has come for the investiture of the

new librarians. Many of the new faces were

from Secondary 1, although the HML Club

received a number of applications from

Secondary 2 and 3 students too. This was

hardly a surprise given that every Rafflesian

wishes to contribute to the community and to

assist others, regardless of

the time spent as a

Rafflesian. Bright and eager

faces were seen

throughout the room. The

new librarians’ faces lit up

as their names were called,

one by one, and they went

to the stage to receive the

aesthetically appealing

HML Club collar pin from

Mdm Jessie Ho and Miss Kanmany.

Thank you, newly-invested librarians of 2008

for your dedication in the past few months.

You have indeed shown yourself to be a true

librarian and with the new collar pin comes

greater responsibility. The Rafflesian

community recognizes you and applauds your

dedication to the maintaining of the school’s

centre of information. The EXCO of 2008/2009

sincerely hopes that you will maintain your

conduct and your responsibilities as a librarian.

All the best!

The event came to a closure as the guests and

staff left to partake in the reception outside

the AVT. We will gather again for AGM 2009

and we shall witness a new batch of leaders

taking the centre stage. Till then!

Memories. Sweet Memories. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Smiles were formed as the HML Club’s trip down the memory lane was shown in a photo compilation

video. Such fun, such laughter, such were the happy times we

spent in the library…

Section 1: Introduction Written by Ong Chuan Kai

The Hullett Memorial Library Club Year End

Camp 2008 was held from 12th November

(Wednesday) to 14th November 2008 (Friday)

and various activities were held, including the

Amazing Race, a life style choices workshop

and a trip to the newly opened Marina

Barrage. The camp is held to meet several

objectives. Firstly, it seeks to foster greater

collaboration between librarians and to enable

them to better understand the library.

Secondly, it aims to tidy up the library. Thirdly,

it exposes them to lesser known places of

Singapore, and last but not least, it is to have

fun.

The theme of the camp is “Discovery”.

First and foremost, throughout the camp,

participants get to discover themselves, that is,

discover a side of themselves that they never

knew they had by exposing themselves to new

environments. They also managed to discover

more about fellow librarians which they had

worked with, and also more about the club, its

operations and the people behind it.

Additionally, they discovered places in

Singapore which they might not have been to.

Last but definitely not least, they get to

discover the fun side of HML Club which is

rarely seen.

The camp had been originally planned

for 2 Day-1 Night, but due to the inclusion of

the life style choices workshop spanning over 2

days; it was extended to a 3 Day-2 Night camp,

with some initially planned activities

compromised. For example, the Amazing Race,

which was originally planned to take place all

around Singapore, was compromised to the

Southern Ridges.

The participants gathered on the first day at

7.30am in the Library Activities Room (LAR)

and the camp commenced with attendance

taking and a briefing on the purpose and

proceedings of the camp, as well as the camp

rules and regulations.

The participants were split into 3

groups to facilitate the activities that were

carried out and to allow them to interact with

someone they rarely worked with.

Here are the groupings for the camp:

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 EXCO

Chang

Shu Jian

Nigel

Loo

Sean

Yap

Ang Hui

Hao

Bernard Eugene Tommy Jonathan

Ang

Wee

Kiang Simon Randy Dyon Ang

Ming Jie Khang

Hwee Ryan

Tay Hui

Chiang

Mrs. Yap Ms.

Mani

Mdm.

Ho

Ong

Chuan Kai

Also, to make the competition among

groups more intense and to raise the

enthusiasm of the teams, points were given for

every activity, including shelf reading to each

group. Points given were relative to the

activity, and the group with the most points at

the end of the camp would win prizes.

Section 2: Icebreakers

Written by Ong Chuan Kai

Due to time constraints caused by the

inception of other activities, icebreaker games

were substituted with the making of team T-

shirts. This activity lasted for 30minutes after

the briefing. The concept of the team T-shirt is

to symbolize the team’s identity, just like a

nation’s flag. The objective of wearing the

shirt is to give a sense of belonging to the

team and teams can also take this

opportunity to showcase their creativity.

This activity also helps to bond the team

together as they brainstormed for

ideas and designed the T-shirt

cohesively.

For this activity, the

librarians split up into their groups

and proceeded to the respective

project corners. They sat together and

brainstormed for ideas. With markers provided

for each team, they showcased their creativity

on the white T-shirt provided. They were to

come up with a team name and a tagline

which was to be written on the T-shirt

as well. In the process,

they will

create their

team’s identity. Meanwhile, they

have to relate their T-shirt to the

theme of the camp: “Discovery”.

After 30 minutes of discussion

and designing, the teams

returned to the LAR to present

their T-shirt. The T-shirt designs

were to be judged and the result

determined the starting order of

the 3 teams for the Amazing

Race. After the adjudication, the

starting order was as follows:

Group 3, Group 1, and lastly, Group 2.

The T-shirt had to be with the team at

all times throughout the day and one member

of each team had to wear it at any point in

time. This helped to instill a sense of

responsibility to the T-shirt and a sense of

belonging to the team. Overall, it was a fun

and meaningful experience as each team

worked together in designing their identities,

with jokes and laughter popping out

frequently.

Section 3: Amazing Race

Written and compiled by Tay Hui Chiang

Shortly after the icebreakers, we

boarded a chartered bus which took us to the

Southern Ridges. The Amazing Race was

played not unlike previous years. Teams were

each given a clue which would lead them to

the first station. There, they would be asked to

complete a given challenge before getting

their next clue, so on and so forth. The teams

were not allowed to go all at the same time

since there would be teams massing at one

station, so they were released in intervals of 5

minutes, with the order being determined by

how well they performed for their T-shirt

design.

The clue given at the starting point

was the words “LOOK UP”, which would lead

them to the Southern Ridges. Being simple, all

of the teams were able to infer this location

rather easily.

The station master for this station (Station 1)

was Chuan Kai. The participants had to count

the segments of planks along the entire bridge

and report the answer to the station master

for their first task. The closer the answer is to

the actual one (187), the more points the team

will be awarded. Group 1 and 2 managed to

get the actual answer while Group 3 was 3

segments off (184). The second task would be

to take a photo of the bridge as artistically as

possible, with points given based on the photo

taken. These two tasks could effectively test

their teamwork and creativity.

The clue given for the next station was

a picture of a triangle with an arrow pointing

to the top. The triangle symbolized Mount

Faber, which was near to where they were,

and the top essentially meant Faber Point.

Most of the groups were able to infer this

location rather easily too.

At Jonathan’s station in the Amazing

Race (Station 2), groups had to re-enact certain

scenes throughout the history of Singapore.

Groups had to choose the scenes from the

gallery below Faber Point, then proceed to the

area above to re-enact the scenes. Similar to

the T-shirt design, Group 3 finished first,

followed by Group 1 and then Group 2.

Group 3 was the first to complete the

station, and that group’s performance was

decided to be the most realistic, and therefore

scored the highest among all the other groups.

Their group was also the fastest to solve the

clue. Background knowledge of the locale by

certain members of the group might have

helped them when they attempted to decipher

the clue.

Group 1 was the second group to

reach the station. Their performance at this

station was generally quite poor, with

members of the group showing an obvious lack

of enthusiasm. This group did not solve the

clue to the next station. However, a lot of

effort was put in by members of the group to

find the location. Due to the lack of time and

the need to move on with the Race, the

location of the next station was given to them.

Group 2 was the last group

to reach the station. Their

performance was average as

compared to the other groups, but

they managed to complete the

station fairly quickly. In addition,

they managed to solve the clue to

Station 3, though it still took them

considerably long.

The clue to Hui Chiang’s

station (Station 3) at the Lookout

Point was a rather cryptic one,

which was an eye in the middle of a

recycle sign. All the teams were unable to

solve it and got to Hui Chiang’s station through

wandering around while trying to look for a

boy in white shirt and black pants.

Teams at this station were supposed

to look for 10 paper clips around the lookout

point. However, they had to stand in a row,

with an inflated balloon held between their

bodies, such that they looked like large

caterpillars. Dropping the balloon on the

ground would result in the ‘confiscation’ of 2

paper clips. Group 3 arrived first, and they

breezed through the challenge. The difficulty

of the clue led to our first hitch in the race,

where Group 1 got lost. They called Jonathan,

who gave misleading instructions, directing

them to the forest beside the Jewel Box.

Thankfully, they were able to find their way to

Hui Chiang’s station. Similarly, they went

through his station easily, although they did

drop the balloon twice. The last group to arrive

was Group 2. They did not pass the challenge

easily, as they were probably not observant

enough, and could not find paper clips that

were right in front of them. However, they did

manage to complete the challenge in a

relatively short time as well.

Hui Hao’s station for Amazing Race

(Station 4) was the first station in Vivocity

where the teams finally got into air-

conditioned heaven and out of the hot sun in

the Southern Ridges. Basically the teams were

required to form a chain of store names that

started with the store newurbanmale.com and

ended with the store Action City and had to

include the store SIX. The chain was formed

with the starting and ending letters of each of

the names. All of the teams found their chain

rather easily with the help of the shop

directory. The hard part came later; the teams

had to take pictures of the stores' signboards

in order. Some teams excelled in this task;

Group 3 took the pictures in random order and

then used another camera to make them seem

like they were in the right order whereas the

other teams just wasted about 15 minutes

walking around the entire second floor of the

shopping complex. All the teams eventually

managed to complete their task successfully

with varying amounts of time taken, with

Group 3 taking the least time followed by

Group 2 and lastly Group 1. On analysis of the

results, the time taken by the teams was based

on one factor: strategy. None of the teams

chose the time-consuming method of looking

around the entire floor for the names and

instead used a directory; however, some

teams had a strategy when it came to taking

the pictures whereas others did not. In the

end, the team with the best and most efficient

strategy was the clear winner for this station.

Placed in charge of Station 5, Dyon

waited for the groups at Vivocity as his station

was the last station before sending the groups

off to lunch. He tried to hide himself

somewhere, which failed, as the area around

Bakerzin was too wide and open-spaced. The

objective of his station was to test the

librarians’ attentiveness as they zipped around

the stores. The first group arrived 15 minutes

earlier than the others, and quickly got down

to completing their task. However, despite

their swiftness, they were unable to spell the

stores’ names correctly and therefore had to

backtrack again. This shows that speed is not

always an essence in a challenge/task. Next,

while the other teams came to Dyon, he found

himself debating with some groups on the

spelling of the stores which was very time-

wasting. One group especially did not follow

the previous station master Hui Hao’s

instructions and received a penalty. From this

station, we can learn that librarians are

effective in working with each other and one

can complete a given task well while working

with his team.

Section 4: Marina Barrage Activities

Written by Ong Chuan Kai

After having lunch at Kopitiam in Vivo

City, the teams embarked on a journey to the

newly opened Marina Barrage. They took the

MRT to Marina Bay and took a shuttle bus to

Marina Barrage from there. Groups brought

along cameras and notebooks to capture

memories.

The Marina Barrage was opened just 2

weeks before the camp on 1 November 2008,

and so it was decided that the participants

would go there to learn more about this

engineering marvel, in relation to the theme of

Discovery. Librarians could also boost their

research and presentation skills with the

challenge posed to them, which will be

explained later on.

Upon reaching the barrage, we had a

walk around the site as we waited for the

guided tour to commence. At 2.30pm, a tour

guide from Marina Barrage took us on an

engaging tour around the premises and the

Sustainable Singapore Gallery. Unfortunately,

we did not get to tour the rooftop lawn due to

a heavy rain. From this tour, we gained useful

knowledge about the barrage and its impact.

For example, the barrage created a reservoir

for the city, increasing our fresh water supply.

Also, by controlling the water level within the

bay,

floods that are otherwise damaging can be

prevented. After the tour, the challenge was

released to the groups. Groups would have to

give a 15-minute presentation on one of the

six galleries in the Sustainable Singapore

Gallery assigned to them. The presentation

would be done in school. Each team was given

1 hour to do research on the gallery that they

were assigned. They could do so in the form of

copying down notes and taking photos. After

being brought back to school by a chartered

bus, the groups were given 1 hour to prepare

their presentations on laptops in the central

aisle of the HML. Then, they proceeded to the

Dining Hall for dinner. Immediately after

dinner, the teams assembled in the LAR for

their presentations. They were judged by 3

guest judges, namely Cham Bao Rong, Daniel

Goh and Li Yiyang. They are members of the

HML Club alumni and had returned to help out

with the camp. The teams presented with

various styles, but all presented valuable

information regarding the Marina Barrage. The

judges gave useful comments to the

presenters after their experience in Project

Work in RJC. These comments definitely

helped the presenters to improve in the

future. To round up the whole experience of

discovering the Marina Barrage, a 2-part video

on the barrage was screened.

This was undoubtedly an enriching

experience for everyone as they got to know a

lot about the barrage, which will definitely

benefit them in time to come as the barrage is

a key icon in Singapore. It was also meaningful

as we were the pioneering Raffles Institution

group to tour the barrage! This journey of

“Discovery” definitely brought out the camp’s

theme. Besides these, the participants

unarguably benefited, as their knowledge

about the barrage and their presentation skills

had been boosted with this experience.

18

Section 5: Treasure Hunt cum Station Games

Written and compiled by Tay Hui Chiang

The treasure hunt took place on the second day

of the camp after the Lifestyle Choices

workshop. It is held to foster creativity and

bonding among the teams, and is also a warm-

up for the more vigorous station games. Groups

were required to find random, everyday objects

such as pens and were to return to the library

within half an hour. In that time, the HML EXCO

was busy setting up their stations for the next

activity - Station Games. To make the challenge

more interesting, ex-librarians Yiyang and Bao

Rong patrolled the area with a whole bag of

stationery. However, the groups were required

to complete a task, such as reciting the

Rafflesian Principle of Honour before they could

get one of the ‘treasures’ in the bag. In the end,

Group 3 came in first with the most number of

items, followed by Group 2 and lastly Group 1.

The winning group was the most enthusiastic of

all as they went around the school compound,

searching high and low for the ‘treasures’. They

also tried to obtain as many ‘treasures’ as

possible from Yiyang and Bao Rong. The group

coming in last was rather unenthusiastic as they

walked around with no clear objective and did

not bother much about Yiyang and Bao Rong.

This showed that enthusiasm and clever use of

resources are key winning traits in this hunt and

this is also applicable to our lives, where many

achieved success as they are upbeat in their

work and intelligently make use of what they

have.

The station games took place after the

treasure hunt. Groups were given clues to

different stations so that they would not be

rushing to the same station at once.

The clue for Station 1 was the ‘atomic

symbol’ ‘Lt’, with the ‘atomic mass’ being 3 and

the ‘proton number’ being 2. This clue led to the

station which was the corridor between Lecture

Theatres 2 and 3. All of the groups were able to

infer this location rather easily.

The station master at Station 1 was

Chuan Kai. The activity at that station was

called “Fit It”. Groups were given three sizes

of newspapers and they were to get all

members onto the newspaper without any

part of their feet touching any area outside

the newspaper. With each successful effort, a

smaller piece of newspaper would be used,

increasing the task’s difficulty. Points were

awarded if they could complete the task

without tearing any papers. Equal members

from each team took part in the activity so as

to ensure fairness. Group 1 ‘survived’ 1 fold,

Group 2 ‘survived’ 2 and Group 3 amazingly

‘survived’ 3.

After completing the activity, groups

were given the next clue, which is the clue for

Station 2. The clue given was the anagram

“Stupids Teams”, which when rearranged

became “Stadium Steps”. As this location is

seldom referred to, all groups only managed

to solve the anagram after a few minutes,

which was also after the station master

provided them with more clues.

Station 2, Hui Hao’s station, was the

one which required the most setting up,

because of the large number of materials

required. The groups had to pass water

bombs from the first member to next, each

standing 5 meters apart. For each water bomb

that they successfully passed, they scored

points and the points were given based on the

number of water bombs successfully passed

along the chain. However, due to a lack of

resources, the groups were only given a

maximum of 9 water bombs and were advised

to make full use of them and not waste any.

There was another problem; one of the teams

had fewer members, so it was much easier for

them to pass the water bombs to each other as

there was less opportunity for error along the

chain following the decrease in the number of

passes. Hence, the points for the other two

teams were increased proportionately to make

the game as fair as possible. In the end, Group 3

and Group 1 both received 300 points whereas

Group 2 received 150 points.

The toothpick search (Station 3) can be

considered one of the most grueling games of

the whole camp. Toothpicks were scattered on

the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor of the Junior Block by

the station master, Hui Chiang, before the start

of the game. Teams were then asked to look for

the toothpicks. However, the catch is that only

one person was allowed to go up at one time,

and he could only retrieve one toothpick per

trip. The members of the team were neither

allowed to place toothpicks in a convenient

place nor talk to each other. Each team was

given 10 minutes, and had to collect as many

toothpicks as possible. Group 1, despite having

the fewest people, came in first, while Group 3

came in second, and Group 2 came in third

because they violated the rules by telling each

other where the toothpicks were.

At Jonathan’s station in the Station

Games (Station 4), groups were tasked to guide

one blindfolded member of the group verbally

around a designated course in the fastest

possible time. Group 3 finished first, followed by

Group 2 and then Group 1. Group 3 was the

first group to attempt the station. Their

communication skills were excellent, and thus

their blindfolded member could follow their

instructions without hesitation, resulting in

them finishing faster than the other Group 1

was next to reach the station. When they

reached the station, they initially took very long

to find Jonathan, hence causing frustration

later. When they attempted the task, they

initially took off very quickly, but later slowed

down as they progressed around the course.

This contributed to them being the slowest of all

the teams.

The last group to attempt the station

was Group 2. Like Group 1, they initially started

well, being the fastest group to complete half

the route. However, they later made some

serious errors, which contributed to their group

earning second place instead of first. For

example, near the end of the route, they missed

out on one station, and were almost disqualified

for stopping at the second last corner and

removing the blindfold.

For Dyon’s station (Station 5), groups

went around searching high and low for the

quotes of Mr S. Rajaratnam. This provided an

opportunity for the librarians to immerse

themselves into the life of one of our nation’s

founding fathers. Many of the groups did not

work very well together at this station, with one

or two of the group members drifting away,

minding their own business or searching for the

words themselves. Upon completing the

assignment that Dyon gave them, they were

asked by Dyon to explain one of the more

difficult quotes. A group decided to give Dyon a

completely irrelevant answer which resulted in

a penalty as it did not make much sense at all.

He suspected that they did that to rush for time.

The other groups, however, gave fairly

satisfactory answers which at least showed

some promise.

Overall, most of the teams did well in

completing their tasks and getting to their next

stations. However, their performance could

have been further improved by showing more

enthusiasm and working better with their

teammates.

20

Section 6: Shelf-reading

Written by Ong Chuan Kai

Shelf-reading was held during the

second night of the camp. After dinner at the

Dining Hall, the librarians headed back to the

library and started with the shelving of some

remaining books on the trolley. Then, they

split into their respective groups, with the

EXCO forming a group as well. Each group

went on to shelf-read their allocated shelves.

The 2 main purposes of this activity

were namely to make the library neater and

tidier as well as to foster bonds between the

librarians as they worked together to achieve

a common goal.

Starting off, the groups were

allocated specific shelves to shelf-read. The

allocation is shown below.

The amount of work for each group

had been fairly distributed. The process went

on smoothly with everyone busy shelf-

reading, putting in effort, with their points at

stake. During this time, Hui Hao, the Chief

Librarian from the EXCO group went around

to check the shelves that each group had

completed. The shelf-reading was done

satisfactorily and the activity ended earlier

than expected.

Altogether, the shelf-reading activity

has bonded the groups and the condition of

the library has definitely improved with this

session. It was indeed a meaningful and

beneficial activity. With the neatness of the

library improved, both visitors and students

will have a pleasant experience in the library.

With the library’s environment tidier, it will be

more conducive for learning.

Section 7: Lifestyle Choices Workshop

Written by Tay Hui Chiang

For the first time in RI, a Lifestyle

Choices workshop was conducted by Business

Today South Africa (Pte) Ltd and was attended

by those who were here for the HML Club camp

as well as students involved in business-related

Research Education projects. The main

facilitator of the workshop was witty and

charismatic, and managed to break the ice with

a largely unresponsive audience after less than

half an hour. Following a brief introduction to

the workshop, we were then introduced to a

board game which seemed rather intimidating

at the start. However, after playing 2 rounds,

most of the groups got the hang of it, and

started to enjoy the game and appreciate the

lessons that could be learnt from it. Of course,

what is a game without hilarious moments?

Simon got hospitalized due to a stress-related

heart attack and the lack of time spent in

physical health and leisure, while Hui Hao got

married. The light-hearted atmosphere carried

on throughout the 2 days of the workshop as

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 EXCO group

NF 8-14 NF 15-20 NF 21-26 Reference

we played a simulation of 12 years of our life

within 5 hours.

More importantly, we learnt many

lessons from such a game. Firstly, we learnt the

importance of time and money. These are 2

precious resources that cannot be recovered

once used, and thus have to be used only after

great consideration. Secondly, we need to

evaluate risks before taking them; otherwise

they might have adverse consequences. We

also learnt that every decision we make,

whether small or big, comes with both positive

and negative consequences. The consequences

may not be felt immediately, but could be felt

after a long period of time. Amidst many

others, we also learnt the importance of an

effective work-life balance, as one cannot do

without the other. We should strike a balance

between work and leisure, so as to be able to

live our lives to the fullest.

Section 8: Birthday Bash and Food

Written by Ong Chuan Kai

The birthday bash was the second last

event of the camp and lasted for approximately

half an hour. It took place after the closure of

the Lifestyle Choices workshop.

The objective of the birthday bash was

to celebrate the birthdays of librarians born in

the months of October to December. It was

also to be a form of celebration to round up the

camp and credit the librarians for all their hard

work throughout the year.

Food was catered by ISS in a private

room in the Dining Hall. Our guests, the

workshop facilitators, were also invited to join

us for this tea session. There were delicious

pastries and cakes. The snacks were coupled

with lemon barley drink. Everyone enjoyed the

bash as they chatted and savored the food.

After the bash in the private room,

birthday cards were given to librarians born in

the months of October to December when the

librarians returned to the HML. To conclude,

the bash was enjoyable and pleasant for all

participants.

As for food throughout the camp, a

sufficient amount was needed to ensure that

the librarians had enough energy to participate

actively in the camp. On the 1st day, there was

lunch, dinner and supper. On the 2nd day, there

was breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. On

the last day, there was breakfast, lunch as well

as tea.

All meals were provided by ISS in the

Dining Hall, with the exception of the lunch at

Vivocity where participants had to pay for their

food themselves. This was to make things

simpler and so that the costs could be worked

out easily. The food provided by ISS was

satisfactory too. Some snacks were bought at

NTUC Fair Price for supper. They could also be

eaten should the need arise throughout the

camp, especially during the Amazing Race.

Section 9: Conclusion and Reflections

Written by Ong Chuan Kai

To round up the camp, points for the

groups were tallied and the positions were

determined. The final positions for the groups

are as follows: 1st - Group 3, 2nd - Group 1 and

3rd- Group 2. As seen from the positions in the

various activities, the result was as expected.

Group 3 evidently put in the most amount of

effort and making good use of their skills and

talents, they managed to excel in most

activities with hard work. The other two groups

also did well and their effort was definitely

recognized. Everyone benefited in one way or

another and they enjoyed themselves in the

process.

The camp was the first event that the

newly appointed EXCO of ‘08/’09 had to plan. 4

out of 5 of us were still Sec 2s and this was the

first time all of us planned a camp. This was

indeed a new and fresh experience for us and

we looked forward to it. Under the leadership

of Hui Hao, the Chief Librarian, the guidance of

Mrs Yap, the teacher-in-charge of HML Club as

well as Ms Mani and Mdm Ho, the staff of HML,

we kickstarted the planning as early as

September. With much guidance, we

confidently took up this first challenge posed to

us.

As we moved along, we put in effort in

planning various activities and went to reccee

different places all over Singapore to ensure a

smooth running of the camp. Through the

process, we encountered some problems like

the inclusion of a 2-day workshop but we

managed to resolve it and adjust the timeline

accordingly, compromising certain activities.

We learnt to be able to adapt to changes and

make appropriate decisions to counter

problems. The planning process may be tedious

but it is much needed for a successful camp. It

was an eye-opening experience for us and we

benefited much from this learning experience.

Ex-librarians like Yiyang and Kang Jie

sacrificed their time to come back and help out

with the camp planning and we were very

thankful to them for offering their help and

guiding us along. In the camp itself, ex-

librarians like Bao Rong, Daniel and Yiyang

came back as guest judges and even as care-

takers, showing that HML Club is like a closely-

knitted family and the alumni still return to this

“home” of theirs to help out. With this strong

bond and motivation from the seniors and

teachers, we strived on and made sure that the

camp will run smoothly.

We did our best and from the feedback

gathered from camp participants, the camp

was successful on the whole with much praise

from the participants, which we were glad to

receive. However, there were also weaknesses

pointed out. We acknowledged our weaknesses

and treated them as valuable learning points

for us to pick up. The utmost satisfaction from a

camp organizer would be seeing the

participants enjoy the camp and learn

meaningful things from it. Seeing our hard work

pay off and that participants acknowledged and

appreciated our efforts was really heart-

warming and we really felt that it was worth all

the pains. It is also of utmost importance that

we learn from our weaknesses and seek to

improve them as we continue to better

ourselves as leaders of the club and organize

events of greater success in the future.

Constructive criticism benefited us and we

managed to “Discover” more about ourselves,

as we linked to the theme of the camp.

Some things which we can improve on

are the timing of the camp as it clashed with

OIP and other core CCA camps. We can also get

new and fresh ideas as ideas should not be re-

used over and over again, thus the camp would

not grow to be repetitive and boring for the

participants.

The smooth running of the camp and

the enjoyment from various activities with a

strong purpose in mind would not possible

without the involvement of librarians, be it the

participants or the organizers, including the

teachers and ex-librarians. Everyone played a

part in making this camp as it was and

everyone mattered to the success of the camp.

As the saying goes, “One for all, all for one”, we

progress as a club and reap fruits of success as

a club. Despite being organizers, as we

participated in the activities with the

participants, we actually unknowingly met our

own objectives for the participants as we learnt

and enjoyed with the participants. Following

the camp, as we continue to bond in our

weekly duties, we serve together as one,

keeping the students’ welfare in mind and

working together to make the library a more

conducive place for learning.

To round up this process of organizing

a camp, we would say that even as organizers,

we benefited no lesser than the participants.

This was indeed a valuable experience for all of

us and we could definitely apply what we have

learnt in the future, be it in school or in life. We

picked up precious learning points in various

aspects, like planning, organization,

coordination, administration, leadership etc. As

we improved ourselves as leaders of the club,

we hope that the club will grow with us and

together, we can definitely scale greater

heights.

In conclusion, the camp was

definitely a success from ours as well as

the participant‟s point of view and the

objectives were certainly met.

RAFFLES By Tay Hui Chiang

The Raffles Trail for the Hullett

Memorial Library Club was held on the

13th of February (Friday). The Raffles

Trail is basically a time for Secondary 1

Students to get to know the CCAs of RI

better.

During the planning stage, the

EXCO faced several obstacles but

managed to overcome them. Firstly,

there was confusion as to whether the

Raffles Trail would be held in the library

or in a classroom. Some preferred the

classroom as the library would be very

busy, especially on Fridays and thus the

Sec 1s would get distracted. Also, it

…………………….would be hard to find

space for a projector

screen for the

presentation.

However, we

eventually went on

with having the

Raffles Trail in the

library for a number

a reasons. Firstly, it

was decided that the

library would be

closed so no one

except the Sec 1s

and the librarians

would be in the

library. The sofas at

the back of the library were also moved

strategically to prevent the Sec 1s from

getting distracted, to block off some

areas, such as the Surfpool, and to

create space for a projector screen.

Another presentation area was set up in

the Library Activities Room so that 3

classes could be presented to at any

point in time. Another problem faced

was the lack of manpower. Chuan Kai

could not come due to an important

event in his CCA. This problem was

solved by roping in many other

members of the library.

trail

At 1.25pm, an

announcement was made

to inform the students in

the library that they had to

leave because of the

Raffles Trail. All of them

left in several minutes.

Next, we had a briefing by

Mrs. Yap. Firstly, she told

us that the HML Club was

a service-oriented club.

Joining such a club would

allow us to be experienced

in serving others, and without

experience of doing service internally,

one can never hope to do real service in

the outside world. Next, she told us

about the importance of the Raffles

Trail. During this stage, Secondary 1

students will be talked to about the HML

Club in general and interested students

can sign up. Lastly, she talked to us

about how the HML Club was like a

small family, bonded together by the

passion for service to the school and

the love of the library. She also said that

the HML Club is only looking for

passionate, committed and responsible

members and thus not everyone can

qualify.

Following the briefing, we had a

short outline on the PowerPoint slides

done by Dyon. Some of the slides

contained photos which were taken

several years ago, thus many of us did

not recognize where they were taken

and when. Also, each class was only

allowed 10 minutes at the HML, and

there were 11 slides, so this meant that

we could only spend less than 1 minute

per slide and also have time for the

interested Secondary 1s to ask

questions and to sign up. After

everyone was familiar with the slides,

Jonathan briefed us on the plan for the

day.

It was decided that there would

be 2 available areas for briefing the

Secondary 1s, the back of the library

where 2 classes could be briefed at

once and the Library Activities Room

where 1 class could be briefed. Stations

were assigned to the librarians. Hui Hao

was the photographer; Hui Chiang, Zhe

Herng, Bernard and Melvin were

assigned to do the presentation in the

LAR, while the rest took turns to be the

doorman, crowd controller and the

presenters in the library.

The first few presentations went

rather well, with many Sec 1s signing

up, although some of us were rather

nervous. The first few presentations

were conducted by the seniors, while

the following ones were conducted by

the Sec 2s. This was to allow them to

have a feel of conducting presentations

so they will know what to do for future

presentations and Raffles Trails. We

were rather demoralized after seeing

several classes with no one signing up,

but we still kept going and tried to be

enthusiastic in our presentations.

Although the HML Club Raffles

Trail was well-organized, the same

cannot be said for the Raffles Trail

event in general. After around 6 classes

at the start, there was a large gap of 2

hours before the next classes came.

This could be due to the lack of

organization and proper planning by the

committee in charge of the Raffles Trail.

Even then, there were at least 3 classes

who did not have a chance to go

through our CCA‟s presentation.

During the gap of 2 hours,

Jonathan conducted a debriefing

session with the librarians who were still

here as he was overall-in-charge of the

event and Hui Hao. Firstly, the issue of

lack of commitment among librarians

was discussed. Librarians come for duty

and leave far before closing, citing work

or studying as an excuse. This shows a

lack of passion for service as the

librarian places his homework as his

first priority over the library. Another

example would be librarians can

sometimes be seen „slacking‟ while

signed in. When asked to do something,

they say that they would sign out

immediately.

This example

would show

that the

librarian only

signs in for

duty hours and not because he

sincerely wants to serve the school.

Another issue that was raised

was the fact that many librarians lack

responsibility. Many of them do not

come for duty without informing the

EXCO for the day or the teacher-in-

charge. They leave it to the EXCO to

call them to ask for a reason why they

are not at duty. It is the onus of the

librarian to inform the concerned

authority that they are not coming and a

valid reason for excusing themselves. I

hope that this session would definitely

bring about a change in the attitudes of

librarians.

The Raffles Trail on 13th

February 2009 ended at around 5.30pm

when it was decided by Hui Hao that no

other classes were coming. We closed

the library, neatened the Library

Activities Room and left, feeling rather

satisfied with the 30 signups. We did not

know how many will quit before they

reach Secondary 4. However, it was our

hope that all of them had the passion

and commitment to continue serving the

library until

their last

days in RI.

Training of New Librarians

By Joshua Phang

The presentation to train the secondary 1s

were made known late and it was only at

one of the morning meetings that I decided

to take up this task. I feel passionate about

this as I hope to leave a legacy behind in the

library. Thus, I felt that serving the school

meant that I had to put my heart and soul

into this task as it will not only affect people

in the short term but in the long run as well.

Two cameras were used in the process as

well as some librarians and teachers acting

out some of the scenes. Much thought has

been put into this presentation with Mrs.

Yap monitoring me occasionally, while Miss

Mani and Mdm. Ho giving me the input,

with all their hard work, I could not help but

equal the input that was given by producing

a presentation fit enough to train the

secondary 1s both efficiently and clearly.

The main objective was to ensure this would

be a service to the library and can be used

for a long period of time.

The making of the PowerPoint slide

presentation, which contained a total of 83

slides, was tedious but the end product was

satisfactory. This was because though there

were a lot of constrains, such as time and

manpower, the presentation still consisted

of an in-depth explanation and procedure.

The presentation was created in a week and

included pictures and a short summary

before every process. The process of the

making of the presentation was tiring and

many photos had to be taken. That was the

easy part. The challenging part came in

when I was trying to arrange the photos and

collate the information given to me by Miss

Many and Mdm. Ho.

I tried to organize the pictures and the

information according to their categories.

Thus, I used hyperlinks for easy references

and to allow the reader to zoom in to the

part which they are looking for. The design

of the slides was definitely not so good in

terms of design as the time was limited.

There were limitations of this training

though. Firstly, not many secondary 1s

turned up on the first training, only four

actually turned up as some of them had

other commitments. Secondly, the team

presenting, namely Jonathan, Zhe Herng and

I, did not manage to start on time. Instead of

starting at 1.30pm we started at 2.00pm

which was rather disappointing.

During the span of preparing the slides, I

learnt many things from the library. During

the training itself I felt that being interactive

and posing them questions were the only

way to ensure that the new librarians know

their work. The slides were created and

targeted mainly at the secondary 1s and I

hope that they would remember the step-

by-step methods of carrying out borrowing,

returning, etc.

Training the secondary 1s was actually a test

of my presentation and interaction skills.

The secondary 1s, fortunately, were very

enthusiastic and they were willing to

participate in the “recap” portion of the

presentation. The presentation had flaws

though as I didn’t include the new features

of the library. The feedback received was

that it went well though it was a bit boring.

I feel that through these slides, it would be

beneficial to not only the secondary 1s but

to anyone who joins the library during the

span of the year and it can also help as a

reference guide to existing librarians and

parent volunteers too.

In conclusion, I would like to wrap up the

training program as a success as the

secondary 1s were interested and learned

much from it. With that, I look forward to

the recruitment of committed librarians

willing to sacrifice their time to serve the

school in many ways.

LCM Day Report

By Zhe Herng and Melvin

The recently concluded LCM day for

our librarians was held on the 20th March

2009 Friday during the March school

holidays, our newly recruited Secondary

One librarians as well as our more

experienced members of the HML club had

a day of fun and bonding. It was an

enjoyable day of getting together and

making new friends as well as learning more

about the library.

The first part to the LCM day was the planning made by the EXCO in the weeks before LCM day. The EXCO members were required to plan the icebreaker games, the schedule, the movie, the visit by the RGS librarians, as well as the feedback forms. However, due to certain

circumstances, we were not able to predict the time allocation properly, and thus, this led to some organization problems. For example, there was a lack of time for the movie and the whole day’s activities ended later than expected. I felt that the planning was well thought up, but were not sufficient in certain areas, like the time allocation. I fell that maybe, the planning could have better estimation of the time by giving some allowances. Overall, the planning was still quite good.

The day started off with a briefing

done by Mrs. Cheryl Yap. This was followed

by icebreakers, allowing us to get to know

others as well as understand those we knew

of better. The icebreakers included games

like Whacko, dog and bone, bingo as well as

follow the leader. Whacko is a game where

a person who is the whacko, has to whack

the person whose name is called. The

person whose name was call can call out

another person’s name and the “whacko”

has to whack that person. The game goes

on until someone is whacked and then he

takes over as the “whacko”. Whacko was

easily the favourite game as it was the most

fun, where the librarians joked a lot during

the game.

Dog and Bone is played when two

or more parties assign a number to each

person in a group. The IC calls out a number

and the person with that number has to run

and get the bone back to his base to get the

point. However, if he is touched by the

opponent when holding the bone, the

opponent gets the point. The game is

decided by the team with the most points.

Dog and bone and was fun, but it was very

unorganized, due to a lack of organization.

Follow the leader is played when a

leader is chosen and then everyone except

one person knows who the leader is. When

the other person enters the room, everyone

has to imitate the leader in whatever he is

doing. The guesser or the

only other person has to

guess who the leader is

by looking out for the

person who is

“controlling” everyone’s

reaction. Overall, the

game was fun, but it was

also not very organized.

Overall, the icebreaker

games were very fun.

Bingo is played

when everyone gets a

slip of paper with a

descriptive line, for example “someone with

3 or more siblings”. Each person has to ask

around to see if anyone fits that context to

get him to sign the box. The winner is the

person who completes a line of five boxes

with signatures. Bingo, however, was not as

attractive as the other games, as walking

about the room asking people questions

was probably not the most attractive game.

These could be seen from survey where the

librarians stated their opinions. I can safely

say that many of our librarians, new and

old, had much fun. Though it was a bit of a

rowdy affair as the icebreakers were lacking

some organization as at times it was too

rowdy, it was still very enjoyable, thanks to

our librarians’ enthusiasm. The whole club

bonded together as a group well at the start

of the LCM Day.

After a fun session of games, the

librarians proceeded to do some work in

groups that were assigned to them. Groups

were assigned in a way that there would be

a mix of senior and junior librarians in each

group. Each group was assigned to do an

hour of shelf-reading. Shelf reading is an

important job in the library as tidying up the

shelves is one of the main duties of a

librarian, and our librarians accomplished

this job to their best ability. Librarians new

and old alike slogged hard for more than an

hour and reaped the rewards of satisfaction

and content upon completing each shelf.

After a rest period, where our

librarians went out for lunch at Junction 8,

the library members continued to work

hard for another hour, preparing for the

impending arrival of the RGS librarians.

Despite working tirelessly,

our librarians completed

much of the work, namely

shelf-reading, within a short

period of time. Most of the

non-fiction shelves as well

as the entire reference

section were tidied up.

Following the period

of hard work, came the

arrival of our guests, the

RGS library club. The main

intention of the visit by the

RGS library club was for the

RGS library club to observe the way we

handled the library as well as the library

itself as well as to foster bonds between the

clubs and to allow for interaction between

the librarians of the two schools. The HML

club entertained our guests by giving them

a tour of the library as well as a short

PowerPoint presentation to introduce the

library to our guests, made by Mrs. Yap, our

teacher-in-charge. The librarians did their

level best and introduced the HML with

familiarity, doing very well in guiding our

guests. The tour and the presentation were

followed by a short tea session, where the

HML club provided food, catered by ISS, and

the RGS library club brought snacks, at

2.15pm in the dining hall. The librarians

from both schools ended off the session by

doing the unite cheer.

Overall, the visit was well

appreciated by both sides. Ultimately, the

objectives were not really achieved, as

there was still a lack of interaction between

both schools as both library clubs were

probably awkward or shy as this was the

first time both sides met each other.

However, the librarians enjoyed this activity

as it was a time for our librarians to rest and

have a tea-break after some work in the

library. This activity should be held again as

this would encourage more interaction

between both schools, and thus allowing

the librarians to bond together.

Concluding the day’s events, the

librarians enjoyed a movie, namely Ip Man,

to end off the day as well as to teach the

librarians certain values that could be seen

in the movie. The movie was very

interesting and exciting, filled with many

action scenes, and our members enjoyed

the movie greatly. The movie also thought

us many things, like teaching us moral

courage to stand up against what is wrong

as well as to be true to oneself. The only

setback was that we were not able to

complete the movie due to the lack of time,

as the movie was only half completed at

5pm as there was a lack of time due to the

fact that time had already exceeded what

was planned and the RGS librarians stayed

on longer than we originally planned. The

movie was

stopped and after completing the feedback

forms, the librarians were dismissed.

Through the day’s activities, the

objectives were achieved as the librarians

got to know each other better. However,

the planning and organization could be

improved by improving time allocation as

well as more interaction between the

librarians from RI and RGS, as there was a

lack of time for certain planned activities

and also because that the library members

from both clubs had little interaction. This

may be possible by having more interactive

activities, such as having some icebreaker

or station games, or even working together

in the library, planned for both the library

clubs. Overall, the whole day of events was

enjoyable and fun. It was certainly a

memorable day for the Hullett Memorial

Library club.

Open House Report

Written by Jonathan Ang

On the 23rd of March 2009, Raffles

Institution held its annual Open House

for Primary 6 students to showcase the

school and its facilities, including the

Hullett Memorial Library. The RI Open

House 2009 was held from 09 00 to 16

00. As the Hullett Memorial Library is

part of the facilities of the school,

librarians were called to give tours of the

Library.

Planning for the Open House

started in early April. It was decided by

the school that this year’s Open House

should be more interactive than previous

years’, so the library EXCO had to

brainstorm for a suitable idea for an

interactive activity. It was eventually

decided that a pop quiz of the library would

be appropriate, and the basic materials that

were required were quickly gathered and

set-up. Also, new tour notes had to be

compiled to include the addition of new

facilities in the library, such as the change of

thematic display to the IYA 2009 and the

Darwin 200 exhibits, and the inclusion of

the new Reference Room.

For the Open House itself,

librarians were organised into 2 separate

shifts—The morning shift and the afternoon

shift. The morning shift was from 07 30 to

12 30, while the afternoon shift was from

12 00 to 17 00. Librarians would conduct a

tour of library, for the visitors, and promote

the library as part of the Institution's long

list of outstanding facilities. The tour would

provide the visitors with valuable

information regarding the use of the library,

and why it is one of the outstanding. At the

end of the tour, there would be a small pop

quiz to help the visitors recall the features

of the library. If the visitor was successful,

he would receive a limited edition HML

bookmark designed by Teo Cal-vin, printed

by Mrs. Yap and made by the parent

volunteers.

On Friday, the 15th of May, a briefing

was held in the Library Activities Room

(currently the Teacher's Reference Library)

regarding Open House. Attendance of the

briefing was compulsory for all Librarians.

The purpose of the briefing was to educate

the Secondary one librarians about the

touring process, and also to refresh the

memory of the senior librarians. Besides

that, there were also new facilities of the

library, such as the Reference Room, that

the senior librarians had to take note of

when conducting their tours this year. After

the briefing, the attendances of the various

librarians and their shifts were confirmed.

Besides that, they were also briefed on how

to operate the pop quiz ‘station’ at the loan

counter, and when to give out the

bookmarks as prizes. Mrs Yap also came to

give a speech on the importance of the

Open House, and why it was important for

everybody to attend Open House. The

briefing started at 13 15 and ended at 1400.

On the day itself, at 07 30, the

librarians for the morning shift reported

outside the library for a short briefing

before open house. At that time, the library

was still closed. Tour notes were given out,

and the librarians were expected to read

the notes to familiarise themselves with it

while waiting the library to be opened.

At 0800, the library was opened. The

librarians proceeded inside for a bit of last-

minute tidying-up before the visitors

arrived. The librarians were divided into

different groups, and were assigned

different sections of the library to shelf

read. Stray books were also returned to the

trolleys and were subsequently shelved.

The tidying up ended when the first visitors

started arriving at 08 45.

Librarians were recalled back from

their shelf reading duties and told to stay at

the counter to prepare for visitors. A

librarian was also assigned to open the

library doors for visitors so that they would

have a good impression of librarians. They

would also be wearing their library sweaters

to distinguish themselves from the other

students working in the library. The rest of

the librarians stayed in the area outside the

bag storage room to wait for the visitors.

When the visitors arrived in their families,

Hui Hao assigned a librarian for each family,

and allowed the librarians to tour the

groups. Every new librarian was to tag on to

a tour conducted by a senior librarian,

before they were allowed to conduct their

own tours.

At 10 00, after the Principal's Talk,

the visitors started arriving in large

numbers. Most of the librarians were busy

conducting tours, and the

few that were not doing

tours were helping with

the pop quiz in the loan

counter. The crowd of

visitors was sustained

until around 10 30, when

the number of visitors

decreased significantly

because they were busy

touring the other CCAs

and facilities as well as

attending other talks that

the school had planned. After the crowd

had diminished, some librarians were called

into the pantry for their breaks, while the

rest of the librarians stayed around the loan

counter in case any other visitors arrived.

After the librarians had taken their break,

they swapped with the librarians on tour

duty, and the librarians on tour duty took

their breaks.

After every session of the Principal's

Talk, there would be a great influx of

parents from the Auditorium. The librarians

stationed on tour duty had to take the

visitors on tours first, while the librarians

inside the pantry would quickly finish their

food and continue on with their own tour

duties. The librarians

who had just finished

their tours would then

give another tour, until

the numbers of visitors

had died down

sufficiently for them to

go on their own breaks.

Hence, this process repeated until the end

of the last Principal's Talk.

At the end of Open House, at

around 1600, the visitors started to

decrease significantly. By 16 30, visitors had

stopped arriving at the library. At this point,

the librarians were gathered in the

Reference Room for a debrief. Topics for

debriefing included librarian conduct during

the tour, and how improvements could be

made for next year's open house. There was

a general consensus that the Open House

could be better organised by the school,

resembling previous years which have

ushers guiding groups of people to the

library. This way, more people will be able

to visit the library as it is part of the usher's

itinerary and there were probably less

visitors this year as the HML is difficult to

locate and they may not be interested in

viewing a library. If the system was changed

back, it could in turn improve the library’s

image as a place that would affect their

decision to send their child to RI.

Overall feedback from the visitors

was that they were impressed with the

library as well as the librarians because the

librarians ‘speak well’ and their English was

‘very good’. The tours were generally well-

received by all. The library is an integral part

of the school's facilities, and it would be

beneficial to the overall

image of the school,

should more attention

be given to the library

during the Open House.

The overall

organisation of the

Open House was good. However, this does

not include the organisation on the school’s

part. The school’s organisation was

generally messy, and failed to direct parents

to the different facilities easily. There was

inadequate direction provided for the

parents touring the school, and a large

majority of them failed to arrive at the

library. An organisation similar to previous

years would be better, as it would allow

more parents to tour the library.

In conclusion, this open house can

be considered as a success; however it

would have been even more successful had

more people come to visit the library.

Overall feedback from the visitors was that they were impressed with the library as well as the librarian.s

The tours were generally well-received by all

New Sections in the Library

Over the past semester, many changes have undergone in and around the library, so as to

improve the overall atmosphere of the library. These changes include the opening of a

Reference Room, the movement of books from the Teacher’s Reference Library to the

Library Activities Room, an upgrade of the television sets in the library and two new project

corners. Of course, the movement of books for the TRL and the Reference Room required

the help of our librarians, and not surprisingly, the club was extremely enthusiastic about it.

Reference Room

The new reference room

was officially opened in

March 2009. Being

relatively new, we had to

add a few rules to ensure

organization. There are two

main rules: Firstly, only

quiet reading was allowed

in this room, and secondly,

no books should be taken

out of the reference room.

Posters were designed by

Calvin and Sun Lin to serve

as a constant reminder not

to violate these two rules.

The creation of the reference room brought

with it several advantages. Firstly, students

had a quiet environment to do their own study or to browse through the reference books.

Secondly, reference books could not be taken out of the room, which meant that it would

not be mixed up with the rest of the books. Lastly, the movement of the reference books

from their old shelves meant that those shelves were freed up for the non-fiction books,

creating more space for them.

The movement of the reference books took place during the March Holidays. Several

librarians turned up, and with the help of the library staff and a few scholars, the process

took place rather smoothly and with little hiccups, although there was some confusion as to

where the language and the last few non-fiction books should go to. These problems were

finally solved and the old reference section now

contains the 800 section onwards.

Televisions in the Techive and the Library

The techive enjoyed a small improvement as well. Three new, high-

definition LCD television sets were installed so as to provide better

quality video screening for the students.

Two new television sets were also installed in the thematic display

corner. These television sets are currently screening PowerPoint

presentations of Darwin 200 and the International Year of Astronomy

2009 (IYA) done by 2 librarians, in accordance

to our theme for the month. Additionally, the

entrance of the library is currently screening a

video clip from a documentary of our Minister

Mentor, which is also related to another one of

our themes, famous Rafflesians.

Teacher Reference Room

The Teacher’s Reference Library

(TRL) is a room on the 2nd floor

of the Main Block of the school

where teachers can photocopy

resources to be used during

their lessons that are otherwise

unavailable to the rest of the

school. However, it was decided

that the TRL would be moved to

the Library Activities Room (LAR)

so that space could be freed up

and it could be used as a

meeting room.

This movement would be done in three simple steps. Firstly, books had to be packed and

sealed into boxes. Next, the contractors would remove the shelves and install them in the

LAR. Lastly, the boxes had to be opened and the books placed on their respective shelves.

This whole process was to be completed within this first week of the June holidays. Several

weeks before the movement, Chief Librarian Ang Hui Hao sent out an email to inform the

librarians of it and to recruit as many people as possible. The packing of books was to be

done on Monday and if that was not enough, Tuesday. The contractors would move the

shelves and the boxes into the LAR on Wednesday, and the unpacking was to be done on

Thursday and Friday.

On Monday, Hui Hao, Hui Chiang,

Bernard and Zhe Herng turned up at

9 am to help with packing the

books, while Miss Many helped with

labeling the boxes, and Mrs. Yap and

Aunty Kim helped to fold the boxes

to be used. The process went rather

smoothly except for one problem:

the lack of materials, especially

boxes. Numerous calls had to be

made to UBS library services to

request for more boxes to be

delivered to the TRL. The number of

books in the TRL was severely

underestimated as we only had 20 boxes available at the start. Several more batches of

boxes had to be called for, and the number of boxes totaled to almost 141. Another

material that was found lacking was masking tape. However, this was solved quickly by a

quick trip to the main library every time we ran out of it.

At first, the pace of work seemed slow and it looked like it could not be finished within 1

day. Isaac and Chuan Kai came in the afternoon. This extra manpower helped a lot, but it

still seemed like the work could not be done. More help came in the form of three

Secondary 1 students. A sort of conveyor belt system was organized, where everything was

done systematically. This more than doubled the pace of the work, and we were able to

complete the packing by 5 pm.

On Thursday, Joshua and Hui Chiang turned up in the morning to help with unpacking the

books. They had to open the boxes, take out the books and place them onto the trolley, and

shelf read them. Following which a parent helper would shelve the books. Like the first day,

the pace seemed slow and we were daunted by the large number of boxes there were.

Several ushers came to help for around half an hour during their tea break. Joshua left in

the afternoon and his place was to be taken over by Jonathan. Miss Many and Mdm. Ho also

came to help and this sped up the work. By the end of the day, around 120 boxes had been

opened and their books shelved. On the next day, Hui Hao came early in the morning and

managed to finish the rest of the boxes by himself by noon.

From this simple movement of books, we have learnt many things. Firstly, one should not

dive into a task too quickly without estimating the time, effort and materials needed. This

could be a problem, such as the lack of boxes. Next, always have a plan when doing

something. This would speed it up and make each person more effective. Lastly, we realized

that the library had a large number of books. The TRL is small compared to the main library.

Imagine how much time it would take to

do such a movement for the main library!

Project Corners

There was an extension of the project corners with an

addition of 2 terminals. This was to ensure that students

have a lot more time and space to do their project work not

individually but as a group. This 2 terminals meant that there

were another 2 computers added into the library. The new

terminals were 7A and 7B. Every (A) terminal of the project

corner comprises of a scanner to allow the pupils to scan

books and notes into the computers when doing their

project. This was done to expand the scope of research done

by the students and to enable them to research to a much

greater depth.

Acknowledgements

Editor Chief Librarian, Ang Hui Hao

Writers

All EXCO Members

Design and formatting by Calvin Teo

Photographs and Illustrations by Mrs. Cheryl Yap

Ang Hui Hao Calvin Teo

The producers of this book would like to thank the following people for their invaluable help and guidance.

Mrs. Cheryl Yap Ms. Kanmany

Mdm. Jessie Ho HML EXCO 08/09

“ ”

Final Words

Overall, I feel that the new facilities and sections have just made the library a much more useful place for the students and teachers, the level of efficiency in the library has also been raised as there is much more new technology injected into the library. These changes have benefited us in a greater way when we are studying or relaxing. It has been and will be vital to our upbringing in Raffles Institution where it grooms the best and the brightest.